Canadian Grand Prix forced to officially end a lap early after checkered flag flies too soon

The Canadian Grand Prix went the scheduled 70-lap distance on Sunday. But that won’t be reflected in the official race box score.

The official in the flagstand at Sunday’s Formula 1 race in Montreal waved the checkered flag a lap too soon. Per Formula 1 rules, the accidental waving of the checkered flag means the race has to be classified via the number of laps completed at the time the flag was displayed. Since the flag was displayed after 69 laps, the race (un)officially concludes at that nice distance.

The Sky Sports broadcast caught the flag waving as fourth-place Daniel Ricciardo and fifth-place Lewis Hamilton started lap 70. They should have been racing underneath the white flag.

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(Via Sky Sports)

“Tell them not to wave the checkered flag, we’re not done yet,” race-winner Sebastian Vettel radioed to his crew when he saw the flagman waving the checkered flag.

Thankfully for the person who waved the flag, the mistake doesn’t change any positions as there weren’t any last-lap passes that are suddenly nullified. But it’s still a mistake that shouldn’t be made … especially so soon after the last time this happened. The same mistake happened in the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix, which was won by Hamilton.